Recently, display panels on which images can be displayed using a liquid crystal display (LCD) have been used for electronic apparatuses such as various information processing apparatuses using, as information sources, recording media such as television sets, personal computers (PC), compact disks and digital versatile disks (DVD). A navigation apparatus, which may be one of electronic apparatuses mounted on a vehicle, is equipped with an LCD display panel for displaying map information.
A conventional example of an in-vehicle navigation apparatus is illustrated in FIG. 1. The navigation apparatus shown in FIG. 1 has an outer appearance as shown therein, and has a rectangular shape incorporated into an instrument panel disposed in front of a driver sheet of a passenger vehicle. 1 indicates a casing of the navigation apparatus that is inserted into and fixed to an attachment space provided in the instrument panel. In FIG. 1, the casing 1 is illustrated with a backside portion thereof being omitted.
A panel attachment frame 2 is attached to the front of the casing 1, and a panel main body is housed in the panel attachment frame 2. The panel main body has a display panel 8 by LCD, and a panel frame 3 for attaching the display panel 8 to the apparatus. In the display panel 8 shown in FIG. 1, the front plane thereof is a touch panel on which input/operation buttons related to the navigation apparatus are defined. In a case where the display panel 8 is not of touch panel type, the apparatus may be operated remotely, or input/operation buttons may be arranged in a widened front of the panel frame 2.
The recent in-vehicle navigation apparatus is designed to have multiple functions capable of not only displaying map information on the display panel 8 but also reproducing video images recorded on DVD or the like and music recorded on various types of recording media in the vehicle. Thus, taking into consideration in-vehicle oriented apparatus and a limited attachment space, the navigation apparatus is configured so that the display panel 8 is moved at a slant to release the front of the apparatus in order to effectively use the limited space.
As shown in FIG. 2, the front panel 8 is moved in an inclined state so that the front panel 8 is drawn forwards from the apparatus and is laid down so as to face upwards in order to allow a recording medium such as DVD to be freely loaded into and unloaded from the apparatus. On the front of the navigation apparatus released by moving the display panel 8 in the inclined state, there are provided a slot S1 associated with a function of loading DVD or CD into a drive in the freely detachable manner, and a slot S2 into which a recording medium such as a card or memory can be inserted in the freely detachable manner. An operation button may be arranged on the front of the main body of the navigation apparatus.
The display panel 8 is equipped with the panel frame 3 for attachment to the main body of the navigation apparatus. Slide parts are attached to upper ends of both sides of the panel frame 3. The slide parts are inserted into guide grooves C respectively formed on inner surfaces of both side walls of the panel attachment frame 2, and slide upwards and downwards along the grooves C in accordance with inclined movement of the display panel 8. The slide parts may be not only ones that slide on inner surfaces of the guide grooves C but also rotating rollers having a smaller diameter than that of the width of the grooves.
The inclined movement of the display panel 8 is driven by a drive source for inclined movement installed inside of the navigation apparatus, which may be an electric motor. Two actuator rods 4, which moves horizontally, are connected to the electric motor at two positions in a lower portion of the panel attachment frame 2, or both ends of the lower portion of the frame 2 in the case of FIG. 2. Ends of the actuator rods 4 are joined to the lower portion of the panel frame 3 in a freely rotatable state. Alternatively, a single actuator rod may be arranged so as to move horizontally at the center of the lower portion of the frame 2.
When the navigation apparatus is used for navigation, the display panel 8 is housed in the panel attachment frame 2. When an eject button displayed on the display panel 8 in the touch panel style is depressed in order to load a new DVD to the drive or replace a new DVD with the old one in the drive, for instance, the electric motor is driven so that the actuator rods 4 protrude from the front of the navigation apparatus. Responsive to the motion of the actuator rods 4, the slide parts in the upper ends of the panel frame 3 slide while being restricted by the guide grooves C and move down.
When the actuator rods 4 are moved to protrude from the front, the slide parts moves down along the guide grooves C. As a result of this movement, the display panel 8 shifts from the housed state shown in FIG. 1 to the inclined state shown in FIG. 2. The apparatus is designed so that the actuator rods 4 are automatically stopped when the actuator rods 4 reach the limit on protruding. Preferably, the inclined movement of the display panel 8 is stopped at a residual given angle before the actuator rods 4 become parallel to the panel frame 3. This is intended to make it easy for the slide parts to start to move upwards along the guide grooves C when the display panel 8 is raised by driving the actuator rods 4 to be withdrawn.
Recently, it has been proposed to utilize the multiple functions of the in-vehicle navigation apparatus so that various display functions and display styles are realized on the display panel (for example, a multi-view display panel capable of displaying different images in left and right portions on the display) (see Document 1).
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-78080